That World Cup game against Algeria was massive. A tennis match that lasted for three days…

And then Brian Bannister outdueled Stephen Strasburg.

How much cash would I have won if I had the foresight to parlay the USA winning their World Cup group, with a tennis match going over 160 games along with the Royals handing the phenom Strasburg his first major league loss? That would have been better than the Publishers Clearing House.

A few quick notes as the Easterners prepare to invade:

— I’ve dabbled in the nostalgia of ’85 from time to time, but I’m pretty much done with that. Maybe because it’s been 25 freaking years, I’m just kind of bored with the whole “We Haven’t Been Relevant For Decades, But Come Celebrate Our Lone Championship” meme. This weekend’s series against the Cardinals is just another made-up inter-league rivalry. Just another three games on the schedule where visiting fans will outnumber the locals and the Royals can charge a premium on tickets. I care as much about the Angels as I do the Cardinals.

The only time this was a rivalry – the only time – was in 1985. And since that was 25 years ago, who cares anymore? Mellinger nails it in today’s column. You have to win to have a rival.

Suggested slogan for these games with premium ticket prices: “The same crap at almost twice the price!”
— Continuing my take-down of Jason Kendall: He is five of 12 on stolen base attempts. His 12 attempts are the most since 2006 (16). It’s possible this isn’t entirely his fault. The Royals aren’t exactly known for smart baseball, so it’s entirely possible he’s gotten the steal sign 12 times. I’d be a bigger fan if he came out and said something like, “Yeah, I had the steal sign, but I’m old and I’ve caught every freaking game of the year so I’m kind of slow. I realize the Royals think I’m the same player I was in 1998, but I’m not. So I ignored the sign.”

Working against him, Kendall has also made an additional three outs on the bases and has been picked off once. Kendall has made 11 outs on the bases and scored 16 runs.

According to Bill James Online, Kendall is a -21 in Net Gain on the bases. That’s the worst rate on the team.

Why?

– Quiz: The league average walk rate for an American League hitter is 8.8%. Guess how many Royals are better (higher) than league average. Answer in a bullet point – or two.

— Did you know that Mitch Maier leads the team in RBI%? I prefer that metric because it doesn’t penalize a player who lacks RBI opportunity because of the ineptitude of his teammates when it comes to reaching base. Maier has brought home 17% of all base runners.

Maier has done extremely well in place of Rick Ankiel. Yes, extremely well. Qualify the adjectives here given that Ankiel would have undoubtedly been a drag on this team. Both offensively and defensively. We should be extremely hopeful that Ankiel’s recovery takes another couple of months.

— Yuniesky Betancourt, who surprised many of us by not epically sucking in the first couple of months of the season, is hitting .247/.278/.397 in June. Give a hitter 162 games and he’ll reveal his true talent level. The bottom awaits, Yuni.

— Red Sox beat writer Nick Cafardo reports the Royals “love” shortstop prospect Jose Iglesias. Although the Royals have taken shortstops aplenty in the last few drafts, they still have a huge hole at this spot in the organization. More on that in a moment.

Take the Royals love affair with Iglesias with a grain of salt. Cafardo mentions an Allard Baird (currently an assistant GM for the Sox) and DeJesus “connection.” OK, makes sense on some level. Although DeJesus has been around long enough that teams know what he does… No “connection” is necessary. Then, Cafardo brings up the “connection” and says Baird was instrumental in bringing Ryan Shealy to the Sox Triple-A club. Uhhh, Baird was gone from KC when Shealy was traded for. That was one of GMDM’s early trades.

– Answer to the previous quiz: One. Only David DeJesus has a better than league average walk rate. He’s at 9.1%. The Royals have four of the 25 lowest walk rates in the league. The culprits? Betancourt (3.8% BB rate), Callaspo (4.0%), Guillen (6.5%) and Kendall (7.2%). Mitch Maier leads the team with a 11.2% walk rate, but he doesn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify for the leaderboards. He’s about 30 plate appearances shy.

– Final question: Who should be the Royals All-Star representative? Do they deserve more than one? Fire away in the comments.

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Mike Aviles is at 3.8% BB rate (and ZiPS has him at 4.1% the ROS). If and when he qualifies for the leaderboard he is unlikely to improve that rate (although he doesn’t strike out a lot either).

Written by SteveM about 5 years ago.

I am not sure where your comment “the Royals have taken shortstops aplenty in the last few drafts” comes from. In the years 2007-2009, the Royals have signed a grand total of one player – Justin Trapp – who is projected to play SS.

If you are a legitimate pro-prospect, you will play C-P-SS or CF in high school (and likely college.) This doesn’t mean you will stay at that position in the pros. Basically, if you play 2B, 3B, LF, etc. in high school, then you are not a legitimate pro prospect.

Written by kcrb about 5 years ago.

i have also noticed kendall getting caught on the bases….how many of thos were busted hit and run plays, when the hitter fails to make contact…my guess..95% of them…… probably, dejesus should be the all star rep…but not more than one

Written by mike mcclernon about 5 years ago.

virtually certain that Shealy was a Baird trade. Remember George Brett complimenting him on it, during the off season

Written by Chaim Mattis Keller about 5 years ago.

Shame you’re “just about done” with 1985 nostalgia, just a month removed from the release of the 1985 World Series on DVD. Well, I’m eager to buy it, at least.

Royals’ All-Star Representative? I say Billy Butler. Although DDJ would be fine too.

And, Mike McClernon, Shealy was absolutely, 100%, a Moore trade.

Written by Clark Fosler about 5 years ago.

Shealy was acquired on July 31, 2006 – Moore was the general manager then. I have to admit I thought it was a great trade at the time – it was my one mistake in 2006!

Chaim – Glad to see the Royals are getting that DVD release. Normally that kind of treatment is reserved for other certain “more important” teams.

Written by Big Lee about 5 years ago.

Will there be some future Royals playing in CWS game tonight between Clemson and South Carolina at the Blatt? Need something to switch to when Suppan inevitably shuts down Royals, so Greinke gets no run support.

Written by Ted about 5 years ago.

DeJesus got my All-Star vote. No other Royal did though. But I would lobby for Soria and probably Greinke (he did win the Cy Young last season, and if the managers from last season’s World Series contenders get to a pass, why not the Cy Youngs and MVPs).

No other position player deserves the nod. Sorry Butler, but you just are not there yet, not with Morneau, Cabrera and Youkilis ahead of him. Heck, with Konerko’s resurgence, Butler is the fourth-best 1B in his own division.

But DeJesus deserves a spot. Probably it should be Hamilton, Ichiro and Crawford on my ballot, but I subbed DeJesus for Crawford. Apologies also to Rios and Shin-Soo Choo. I don’t know, it is a hard call. How many OFers do they take as all stars?

Written by Ted about 5 years ago.

Also, I like the Royals/Cardinals “rivalry”. Yes, I will concede that it belongs in quotation marks, but I still think it is more substance than it is much ado about nothing.

Being from KC, I despise St Louis. And, much as I respect the Cardinals franchise and their fans, I despise all St Louis sports. For me it is a natural rivalry, and, honestly, it is the one I care about most. It is why I am still upset that KC declined the option to move into the NL Central (the Cubs are another team I don’t like).

Look, I went to Iowa, and though Iowa St is in another conference, that one football game against Iowa St is nearly always the most emotional…exceptions for when Iowa clinched the Big Ten against MN, or the long pass to beat LSU, and others like it. Same in wrestling, beating Iowa St has no impact on whether Iowa wins the Big Ten, but it is still a heated match. Sure, one game in college football is more important than six in MLB, but the principle is still the same: you never concede ground to your in-state rival. Heck, I even get worked up about the Chiefs/Rams pre-season game.

Written by gbewing about 5 years ago.

I say DeJesus- lets reward the all around skills for once. He’s not glossy and sexy but in a game “That Counts” I’m betting Giardi could find several useful ways to use him.
Butler if at the .340 level and mega dubs but in reality there are better 1bs
Soria isn’t in the discussion, he’s not having his best year decent not great.

of course if they want to block a pitch late JK could be nice to have or to pinch run

The 1985 stuff has reached a point of embarrassment. Like a fat 50 year old wearing his HS letterman’s jacket and reliving the big game. Here’s a family secret the 85 Royals weren’t even that great at best they are 3rd best Royals team. The more they celebrate 85 (especially at Cardinal series) the more they shed light on what a joke they are now. The St Louis weekend is Royals fan hell, one of the reasons I gave up my season tickets was being surrounded by these over-rated fascists who all wear the same colors and root blindly for anyone-David Eckstein = Albert Pujols-Jeff Suppan will be the next Gibson now. I cringe when they are called such “great” baseball fans – blindly screaming for anything red is not an indicator of baseball acumen. Yet every year we surrender our stadium to them, I say anyone buying tickets from any zip code near St Louis pays triple the market value-

Written by Ted about 5 years ago.

I have always admired the Cardinals fans. Most I meet are intelligent and completed devoted. They purchase millions of tickets every season, and, yes, they travel well (I had the misfortune of attending a Twins spring training game when the Cardinals were in town…holy man were my eyes offended by that obnoxious red).

But the one equalizer in every conversation with a Cardinals fan is simple: Game Six. Just mention it and watch their eyes bulge and their nostrils flare. It is great. (An aside: I was surprised that Will Leitch gave such a loud shout out to Dane Iorg in his recent book, “Are We Winning.” Longtime Cardinal, sure, but also the slayer of every Cardinals fan in Game Six. Also, good book.)

Maybe it is embarrassing that us Royals fans don’t have much to celebrate from the past 25 years. But you know what, I’ll be buying that new DVD of the ’85 Series, and I’ll smile seven nights in a row as I watch the games. Nostalgia can be debilitating, but it can also be sustaining. The 70s and 80s were good decades to be a Royals fan, now, not so much. Sure, Beltran was amazing to watch and is still one of my favorite players. And, yes, I loved Kevin Appier. But those were not epochal moments. 1985 was. Of course the Cardinals are an older and more successful franchise (much more successful), the currently can crow about stealing the best player in baseball from us, they have appeared in several World Series (Seri?) since 1985 and have even won once…but 1985 is still important for us fans. And if it wasn’t for that afterglow, I am not certain how I could have stomached what this franchise has become.

So, maybe I am pathetic, but I say, relive the ’85 series while the Cardinals are in town. Of course, it would have been better if the stupid Royals had just accepted the offer and joined the NL Central, then we would have over a decade’s worth of ongoing rivalry to fuel our games. We’d be massive losers during that time frame, but it would be fun all the same.